Glory to God in the Highest

Posted on October 28, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night…

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:8, 13-14 (NIV)

Shepherds. Why would God decide to announce the birth of His Son to a bunch of shepherds?

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” (v.15)

Maybe shepherds didn’t know any better than to believe what they saw and tell others about it! Maybe they didn’t know that angels didn’t regularly appear in the sky and sing songs?! They had only been out on those hills tending sheep for generations! Maybe they didn’t know that people might not believe them; even ridicule them for telling such stories! Or maybe they were so struck by the Good News they had heard – that they couldn’t keep it to themselves!

God comes in the most ordinary of moments. And when He comes in to a moment…extra-ordinary things can occur. Angels sing. Black sky is lit up with His Light. Shepherds are elevated to evangelists and tell His Good News. Will I allow God to change my ordinary moments into extra-ordinary??? Will I look for these moments with the eyes of a shepherd? Taking with joy the Good News that God sends me! And then… will I share this Good news with other who are just as poor as I am?

“All honor and praise to our LORD in heaven! And also on earth is there peace to all on whom God’s grace, His love, rests.”

What a wonderful declaration! God has sent His Son – and we are blessed with His presence for all eternity!

Posted in Luke | Comments Off on Glory to God in the Highest

Furnace of Adversity

Posted on October 27, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

The story to this point: Israel has been defeated by the Babylonians and many taken into captivity. Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego has found favor and are put into positions of authority by King Nebuchadnezzar. The king has made a golden idol. When the appointed ‘alarm’ sounds, all are to bow to the gold image. Shadrach, Mshach and Abednego refuse. The king has summoned them and determined they will be thrown into a blazing furnace and ends his tirade with these words:

“Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:15-18 (NIV)

It take courage to face the blazing furnaces of this world. We can talk about how we are being refined in these adversities but it takes courage to run the races that we are given. This courage comes from God. It is the power of His Spirit inside our very selves that makes us stand when we are so weak in our humanness.

I met some people last night who are in the fiery furnaces. That furnace has a name: cancer. They and those that love them are each running marathon races through the fire. Sometimes the flames are so very high that they cannot see the next turn or even how long they must run. The courage of God, the en-courage-ment of His words are like cool water on their bodies and spirits. The I AM is greater than the race they run. The I AM is sufficient to supply all their needs in abundance. The I AM is.

“I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15 (NIV)

“No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous…”

Joshua 1:5-6 (NIV)

In the furnace, we must keep our eyes on the One who is strength and is courage. We must hear His en-couraging words and receive His en-couragement into our spirits. Soak up His Word and Spirit like a dry sponge soaks up water!

Posted in Daniel | Comments Off on Furnace of Adversity

Posted on October 24, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

This week it’s about picking up and receiving how God loves us. God loves you. God loves me. How extra-ordinary is that??!!

I am kneeling in prayer before our Heavenly Father. As His children, His family, we who are here on earth and those in heaven get our name, our very identity from Him. I pray that our Father will, from His abundance, bless you with strength and power in your spirit, through His Holy Spirit, so that Jesus may live in your hearts through faith. I also pray that you, grounded in a foundation of love, may have the capacity with all the saints to grab on to how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus, the Messiah, and to know that Jesus’ love will always surpass your ability to know it! I pray that you may be filled with all that the Father wants to give you just because He loves you so much. Ephesians 3:14-19 (my paraphrase)

I’ve received two emails this week that shared thoughts about how God has expressed His love to them. It’s great to hear from you! It made me feel better that both of these people had some of the same thoughts that I do: “I did____ for God.” “I’ve been fasting for 5 days!” How do I pray God back for ALL that He has done for me? Oh I want to give back! I really do! Now before I start making lists and getting into a religious ritual – let’s see what Jesus says:

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The word of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

John 6:28-29 (NIV)

That’s it. Just believe in Jesus. Simple not just easy. Enter into worship this Sabbath and think about God’s love. Worship Him.

Posted in Ephesians | Comments Off on

God Loves, Part IV

Posted on October 23, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NIV, emphasis mine)

Did Jesus have any sins?

Yes. He did.

He had my sins.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He laid down His life for His sheep. (John 10:11) I am a sheep.

Every time I come to communion I hear, “This is My Body given for you” and “This is My Blood which is poured out for you”. (Luke 22:19, 20)

Jesus, God-in-the-flesh, took my sins to the cross, laid down and allowed Himself to be broken – for my sins. He does it for whosoever.

This is a text from evangelist and pastor, Rev. Steve Hill. I first heard this during the Pensacola Outpouring Revival in 1996.

Whosoever is:

Everybody, Anybody

Everyone, him, her, them, they, those, me, you, us

Ourselves, themselves, you-ins, ya’ll, us-ins, we, we-ins, youse guys, you guys

All, each person, that person, all the people

Kids, adolescents, old folks, young folks, city slickers, farm boys, home boys, hamburger flippers, ice cream dippers, teeter-totter riders, fearless sky divers, short order cooks, and collectors of books

Smart people that teach and moochers that leach

Michiganers from Calamazoo, citizens from Timbuktoo,

Butchers, bakers, and candle stick makers

You can be big, small, tall, short

Full-headed, grey-headed, or baldheaded, headed for bald-headed

Big-boned, medium-boned, or small boned,

Blonde hair, black hair, green hair or gross hair

Red, yellow, back, or white, you are precious in His sight!

You can be sorta bad, sorta really bad, really, really bad, or badest of bad or king of bad!

You can live uptown, downtown, out of town, suburbs, big house, small house, no house, jailhouse, or little house on the prairie

a pits house in Pittsburgh, or Days Inn in downtown Dayton.

You can be from West Africa, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Saudia Arabia, Mexico, South Korea, Virgin Islands, Canada, Scotland, Norway, Italy, Finland, or BoBo, Alabama.

You can be a Jew from Jerusalem or a Gentile from Jacksonville, you can play a banjo or be named Joe and play in the band

You can be so small that you can say the ABCs backwards or be so backwards, you never learned the ABCs.

You can be patriotic wearing red, white, and blue and sitting by your friend with a big tattoo!

You can make your living churning delicious homemade butter or spend everyday collecting cans from the gutter!

You can play the guitar and be an international star or be a clown in the circus driving the world’s smallest car!

You can be the tidiest person this world has ever known or live like a pig with garbage in your home!

You can keep up with the Jones’ or be the Jones’ housekeeper or be the coolest dude in school with the largest fluorescent beeper!

You can be a shepherd from the hills or a pusher of pills. A wise man from afar or a soap opera star!

You can smell like Chanel and live like a queen or make your abode in an alley wearing tattered Levi jeans!

You can drive a BMW and wear flashy Italian suits or ride an Appaloosa sporting pointed cowboy boots!

It doesn’t make a difference if you’re happy or you’re blue!

Just call upon the Lord – WHOSOEVER – that’s YOU! — Rev. Steve Hill

God loves. God gave. Whosover may live.

Posted in John | Comments Off on God Loves, Part IV

God Loves, Part III

Posted on October 22, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

“…Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?” Mark 8:17 (NIV)

The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods…” Hosea 3:1 (NIV)

God has not given up on me. The world may say I am not enough or lack some essential – but God so loved me. God loved me before I even loved Him and died for me while I was still a sinner. (Romans 5:8)

My goodness can not win God.

My badness can not lose God.

I can resist Him. I can choose to pull away. I can pull away from His touch, His comfort, His love. I can listen to the rejection of man and allow it to dim the extravagant love of God. I do this more from fear than conviction! Pull back the curtains! Let the truth of God’s voice come through!

One of the hardest concepts to accept as a Christian is grace. God gives love without a cost. Unlike any other faith concept, it is not what I do that seals my relationship with God. Jesus covered all of that. God comes close to me because I am covered by Jesus. It is not the number of my prayers or the ritual with which I do them that pleases God. Before I took a breath, God created me in His image and marked me as His! And by His grace, I remain His. He gave Jesus as a ransom for my sins and so with a simple “Yes, I need you” … it is done. I am sealed for God and cannot be plucked out of His hand! (John 10:28)

And then there is mercy. God forgives because of His great love. The mercy is undeserved and the price cost Jesus His life.

Let us take some time today and receive the extravagant love of our Father.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1 (NIV)

Keep reading this chapter. You will be glad you did!

Posted in Hosea, Mark | Comments Off on God Loves, Part III

God Loves, Part II

Posted on October 21, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

Will you compare God to anyone?

What man-made image will you compare Him to? Isaiah 40:18 (my paraphrase)

Before mountains came to be, or you birthed the world, you are God forever and ever.

Psalm 90:2 (my paraphrase)

Maybe this all-powerful, in-need-of-nothing God isn’t aware that I am here and struggling!

For GOD so loved the world… John 3:16 (NIV)

As a parent, I have seen my child’s shoulders slump in that moment of defeat. Hours of practice in a gym instead of going to the movies with friends, has come down to a 2-3 minute balance beam routine…Oh, no…a tiny bobble and off the side of that four-inch beam. No medal today. I put my arms around her and say, “It will be OK.” Seems inadequate but if you asked my daughter today, 15 years later she would say, “Yes, it was OK.”

There are so many accounts in the gospels of Jesus touching people. He was not a ‘distant’ person. He held children. He touched the lepers. He touched the prostitute. He touched the boy with seizures. He touched. He did not stay inside the synagogue expecting people to come to Him. He went out into the streets. He went into homes. He came close and met people where they were and helped them to move closer to Him and closer to His Father.

God is whispering those same words today, “It will be OK,” with His arms around us. Believe Him. Listen to His voice. He knows!

He is God so He will never tire.

He is God so He will never age and leave us.

He is God so He will never let us down.

He is God and is everlasting. He has always been and will always be.

He is God, Creator of all and so He has a special place for us when we are sick and tired and ready to go home.

Posted in Isaiah, John, Psalms | Comments Off on God Loves, Part II

God loves, Part I

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him. “

In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:1-3 (NIV)

God has been speaking to me with such love and the words have been coming around and about John 3:16. This story is the set up for Jesus’ pronouncement of how much God loves.

Nicodemus, a ruler in the Jewish community, comes with questions. He comes at night. He comes to Jesus. He might be nervous. He says, “Jesus we (the learned rulers) have seen what you do.” A little flattery? Jesus does not respond in kind to that because those credentials mean nothing in God’s world. Jesus responds with what is important and what Nicodemus was really there to ask! Jesus tells Nicodemus that his best won’t get him eternal life. That is a shocking truth to a Jew. He has spent his life trying to learn what God expected of him and wants so much to be a ‘good’ Jew. Jesus tells him – that won’t get it!

Have you ever wanted a ‘do over’? A mulligan? For those who do not play golf, a mulligan is an opportunity to do a stroke over. If you tee off and send the ball careening off into the trees instead of straight down the fairway…you exercise your mulligan and hit another ball just like the first one never happened! Jesus tells Nicodemus that he can have a ‘mulligan’ on his life. He can be ‘born again’!

Nicodemus may have left Jesus that night still questioning. Sometimes we just don’t “get it” on Jesus’ first illustration as He teaches us God’s truths. That’s when we keep listening and watching. Keep questioning. Nicodemus may have walked away that night with questions in his mind but later (John 19:39) he was still there, watching and listening. And maybe, just maybe, as he went about Jesus’ burial ritual, he had a light of hope in his heart. He was going to continue to watch…And then he heard the news. Jesus’ tomb where he, Nicodemus, had seen Jesus laid – was EMPTY! Who would have thought that Jesus would give another illustration of His “born again” principle – Himself – in resurrection power – Yes! You can be born again!

God loved us and sent His Son so that we would not perish but have eternal life! Choose Jesus – be born again – and live eternally with God. Even if you “get it” – keep watching. Keep listening. Keep reading. Jesus isn’t done with His teaching.

Posted in John | Comments Off on God loves, Part I

Honest Questions, Hard Answers

Posted on October 17, 2008 by Henry Neufeld

If anyone comes to me and does not hat his father and mother, his wife, his children, his brothers, and his sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. — Luke 14:26

(This is Henry.) [Note – corrected to add text at beginning. I somehow left it out the first time!]

I have been accused of not giving reasonably simple answers to people who ask me questions. I’ve even been accused of not giving answers at all. I sometimes say that I’m more about questions than answers.

But while I’m not even close to prepared to compare myself to Jesus as a teacher, on this point I think I’m in good company—his company!

Just look at this text. That’s tough stuff. And what’s more, he doesn’t tell us how we can love one another, love our neighbor as ourselves, and carry on living if we hate our own lives. He really presents us with a difficult situation.

Now there are those who try to solve this problem by using the Greek words. “’Hate’ doesn’t quite mean what it does in English,” they tell us. It’s more like “reject,” or perhaps “put a lower priority on.” While it’s true that the Greek word doesn’t have an identical range of meaning to the English word, the challenge of this text is not truly reduced by the language.

I can use instances of the English word “hate” in my Bible to make the same point, such as Romans 9:13–”Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Paul is quoting Malachi 1:2-3. If I use that example to make it easier, then I might be led to actually read Malachi 1:3, which says: “but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” Sounds like real hatred to me, not lower priority!

Now you may think this is too tough for a devotional, but bear with me. I got some insight into this issue this week while working on some graphics for a web site. I’m not very good at graphics. I know the technical stuff, how the computer stores it, and how the various elements are made. But actually making something look the way I want it to is a challenge.

I was working on the edges of one picture that I wanted to inset into another, and trying to get the edge smooth. This is harder than you might think because of the way the computer stores and displays the information. It’s best to get a shaded boundary where the various pixels (dots on your screen) shade from one color to the next. When you magnify a computer screen, what you see is definitely not what you get.

That’s when I thought of it. There’s a simple view of graphics, which is the one I have in my head. It has never been made more complicated by taking art classes or even reading art books. It’s a simple framework.

But the deeper I go into a problem the more subtleties I have to understand. Some of you probably read my paragraph above about how the graphics work on a computer and it made no sense to you, and what’s more you didn’t care. Your eyes may have glazed over. Some readers probably quit reading, and thus I can’t address them any more.

Why can’t God just answer our questions for us? Because we just wouldn’t get it. Following God is a spiritual, intellectual, and even a physical discipline. So when Jesus talks about discipleship, he doesn’t tell us that we have to put a slightly higher priority on him over our families. He gives us a stark contrast, one that seems even to contradict other commands he gave. (See Matthew 15:4ff where Jesus condemns the Pharisees for declaring something a gift to God that was needed by parents.)

What Jesus is asking you to do with commands like this is to get into the hard process of prayer and thought and work out what you need to do with your brothers and sisters in community while all listen to the Holy Spirit. He’s giving you a very hard answer to make you go further into those subtleties.

Yes, the framework of our faith is simple. We are saved by God’s grace. But the wonder of it all is that God saves us from our sins and calls and enables us to grow in him. The framework is simple. What you fit into it can grow eternally.

We all have those honest questions. Are we ready to work with God’s hard answers?

Posted in Bible Books, Devotional, Luke | Comments Off on Honest Questions, Hard Answers

John 3:16, The Beginning

Posted on October 16, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

“For God so loved me that He gave His ONE AND ONLY Son to die and make up for my sins. And if I believe in Him I shall NEVER die but LIVE ETERNALLY with Him. For God did not send His Son to me to CONDEMN me but to SAVE me through Jesus Christ, His Son.”

John 3:16-17 (my paraphrase)

Some would say that “This is it! the gospel, the Good News, in a nutshell!” I think it is definitely a good start. If I were a sailor, I might think of these verses as the North Star, a way to always find my way home in my faith journey.

When I am threatened with overwhelming pain and grief, it is the extravagant love of God in His words that shore up the shield of my faith and bring that sword of His Word to my mind and heart! When life isn’t fair – God is still faithful!

Jesus was the payment for my sins. The payment was more horrible than any movie Hollywood has conceived. It was beyond physical pain. It was the separation from all that had always been! Jesus did that…for me.

God’s promise is hope for all that would tell me, “It’s hopeless!” When I reach the end of the rope and know I cannot do this alone, God is there to tell me He will do it for me! I catch a glimpse of the depth of God’s love.

God offers me much more than any ‘plan’ conceived from this world. God promises forever. I will live forever with Him. It is the perfect love story. God teaches me how to love. He teaches me what love is. God shows me that love has more facets than the most beautiful diamond.

Jesus is man and God. Such a mystery! But here I am with Jesus, my friend, brother, and guide through this life. He came to be my Savior but so much more! He came not to beat me about my many, many failures but to, in fact, teach me how to choose and walk His way. He will literally save me from myself!

God loves. God is love. God loves me. WOW.

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

Posted in John, Zephaniah | Comments Off on John 3:16, The Beginning

Birthday Psalm

Posted on October 15, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, til I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come. Psalm 71:18 (NIV)

For a number of years I have thought of this psalm as my ‘Birthday Psalm’. I am coming up on another birthday this week. Although I have passed the half century mark and my hair has left its original color, I do not consider myself neither “old” nor “gray”. However, this verse caught my eye this year. It states the mission that I believe God has called me to ‘declare to the next generation’.

I get a fire in my belly when I consider what this next generation can do to sharing the gospel throughout the world. This is a very visual generation. They are also very technically savvy. They know how to use the internet to communicate. I believe that is why God has put the internet into being. We are to use it to speak His words and testify about what He has done!

This generation also wants The Truth. They want the real ‘stuff’ and will not settle for anything less. They are disillusioned by what the world, especially the media and the political figures have tried to ‘sell’ as truth. They are looking for ‘the real deal’. God is that!

Do you have a young person in your family that isn’t excited about church? My observation is that young people could be excited about Jesus – but not so much about the idea of organized church. So – encourage them to get to know Jesus. Use some of the great videos out there by contemporary musical artists. The lyrics of many of these songs are directly quoted Scripture. The videos are many times great testimonies of what the Scripture means in practical terms. Does it matter if a person accepts Jesus as Savior from a sermon preached from a pulpit or from listening/watching a Christian music video? No! Jesus used parables that were very different way to communicate about God to the masses. Jesus knew that He needed to bring God to the masses, not force them to go to God. Jesus left the synagogue (the church) and met the people in the streets. Jesus is everywhere! Let us magnify Him right now and right there!

I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.

My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you – I, whom you have redeemed.

My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long, for those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion. Psalm 71:22-24 (NIV)

Posted in Psalms | Comments Off on Birthday Psalm